Apparatus for recording the operation of control levers of electrically driven vehicles



Filed Sept. 13, 1947 THROTTLE R. S. CLARK APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE OPERATION OF'CONTROL LEVERS 0F ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN VEHICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 NEUTRAL FORWAR REVERSE- FIG.3

33 E 3 3 g; INVENTOR ii. ROBERT s. CLARK I H BY Lv- 25 31 3 M 5 ATTORNEYS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 llllll lNVENTOR ROBERT S. 'CLARK BY :5 1 %W ATTORNEYS CLARK PIC-3.4

LEVERS OF ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN VEHICLES APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE OPERATION OF CONTROL l fwnwnn FIG.5

FIG. 6

Nov. 21, 1950 Filed Sept. 13, 1947 Patented Nov. 21, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Robert S. Clark, Albany, N. Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to F. N. Bard, Chicago, Ill.

Application September 13, 1947,. Serial No. 773,826

6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to means for recording the operation of the control levers of an electrically driven vehicle, as, for example, the throttle and reverse levers of a Diesel-electric locomotive. There aretwo control systems in commonuse on Diesel-electric locomotives: the two-lever system and the three-lever system. The former comprises a throttle lever and a reverse lever; the latter comprises, in addition, a selector lever which may also serveto operate a dynamic brake. This invention is concerned primarily with the two-lever system, although it could, of course, be used to record the operation of the throttle and reverse levers of a three-lever system.

The control stand of a two-lever system is equipped with a throttle lever and a reverse lever. When the locomotive .is to proceed in'a forward direction, the engineer swings the reverse lever from neutral to "forward through an arc of some 30", and then moves the throttle lever notch-bynotch through an arc, which at maximum speed amounts to some 90, there being an automatic transition from one wiring arrangement to another, after a predetermined set of conditions have been established. The speed and power is determined by the position of the throttle lever. To reverse, the reverse lever is swung from neutral to reverse and the throttle lever manipulated as before.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means for recording the operation of the throttle and reverse levers on the speed tape of a recording speedometer by means of a single stylus or pencil, and a further object so to place the throttle lever record on the tape that the direction of movement of the locomotive, Whether forward or reverse, shall be indicated. I attain these objects by the use of the following mechanism: The throttle lever is connected to a cam in a cam box by means of a flexible shaft or by direct linkage. As the throttle lever is swung, the cam in the cam box is rotated and a vertical cam follower, connected to the end of a fulcrumed rocker arm, is raised or'lowered. The

other end of the rocker arm is connected to a recording pencil in the speed-recording instrument. Thus movements of the throttle lever produce vertical lines on the speed tape, connected by horizontal lines indicatin movement of the locomotive. As the throttle lever is manipulated precisely the same way, whether the locomotive is going forward or backward, it would be impossible to tell from the record, just described, in what direction the locomotive was moving when the record was made. .In order to indicate the direction or locomotive movement, I have provided a'second' cam in the cam boxyoperated by the reverse lever, which raises the fulcrum of the rocker arm when the locomotive is in reverse, and lowers it when the locomotive is going forward, or vice versa. Asa result, operation of the throttle lever during forward movement is recorded on half the tape, whereas the same operation, when the locomotive is reversing, is indicated on the other half. It is, therefore, easy to tell from an inspection of the tape what direction the locomotive was moving at the time the recordwas made.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention. In these drawings,

Figure 1 is a schematic elevation of a control stand of a two-lever system equipped with the recording mechanism of my invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the stand shown in Figure l, with the recorder eliminated;

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the cam box with the covers removed showing the condition of the mechanism when the reverse lever is set at forward and the throttle lever at the oil position;

Figure 4 is a horizontal section, on a somewhat larger scale, taken along line 44 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a front elevation similar to Figure 3,-but showing the condition of the mechanism at full throttle forward;

Figure 6 is a rear elevation of the cam box with the covers removed showing the condition of the mechanism when the reverse lever is set at neutral and the throttle lever at the off position;

Figure 7 is a detail showing how the flexible shaft, acting as a rack, meshes with one of the operating sheaves; and

Figure 8 is a section of a typical speedometer tape showing the record of the throttle lever operation made by the mechanism of thisinvention superimposed upon the speed record.

The control stand Ii) comprises a main housing l l on which is mounted a secondary housing I2. The throttle lever I3 is pivoted at I 4 within the secondary housing I2 and projects outwardly through a horizontal slot l5. This lever is designed to be swung step-wise through an arc of nine equi-spaced notches being provided to determine nine positions of the lever and eight relative speeds plus an idle and an off position. The reverse lever I6 is pivoted at I! within the main housing H, and projects outwardly through a slot [8 in its outer wall. This lever is designed to swing through an arc of some 64 and to occupy three positions: Neutral, in the center of the arc; reverse, at one end and forward, at the other.

The inner end of the throttle lever I3 is fixed to "ashait'lil which carries'a sheave 2! at its lever.

lower end. A flexible, push-pull shaft 22, acting as a rack meshes with the sheave 2|, in the manner shown in Figure 7, and passes through the usual guide tubing to the cam box 23. A similar horizontal sheave 24 is fixed to the lower end of a shaft 25 to which the inner end of the reverse lever I6 is fixed. This sheave 24 likewise meshes with a flexible shaft 26 which leads to the cam box 23. Thus, as the throttle and reverse levers are manipulated, the flexible shafts 22 and 26 move longitudinally toward and away from the cam box 23 and actuate the mechanism which I shall now describe.

The cam box 23 comprises a top 21, a bottom 28, sides 29, and a front and back, not shown. It is supported upon standards 3!. Two horizontal bars 32 extend across the lower end of the box and serve to support the bearings for the cam shafts 33 and 34. Mounted near one end of shaft 33 is the throttle lift cam 35 and near the other end a sheave 36 which meshes with and is actu ated by the flexible shaft 22, which in turn is actuated by the sheave 2!, rotatable with the throttle Mounted near one end of shaft 3 -3 is the reverse lift cam 37 and near the other end a sheave 38 which meshes with and is actuated by the flexible shaft 25 which in turn is actuated by Three pairs of vertical rods 39 extend from the top 2'! to the bottom 28 of the cam box and on these, three blocks 4| 42 and are slidably mounted. A rocker arm 44 is fulcrumed at on the middle block 42, one forked end of this arm embracing a pin 46 on block 43, the other forked end a pin 4'! on block 44. A cam roller 18, mounted on block 43, engages the throttle lift cam and so raises and lowers block 43 when the cam shaft 33 is rotated, thereby causing arm 45 to oscillate about its fulcrum 45 and raise and lower block 4! accordingly. A flexible shaft 19 is anchored to the top of block 4! and extends through the top 2'! of the cam box to the recording instrument, indicated schematically at H, where it actuates a pencil which makes a vertical mark on the horizontally moving speed tape by means well understood.

A cam roller 52, mounted on the middle block 42, engages reverse cam Bl and so raises and lowers block 42, when cam shaft 34 is rotated,

thereby raising and lowering the fulcrum 45 of the rocker arm 44. The roller is intended to engage the cam 3'! in three positions: at 3M, at 37b, as shown in Figure 6, and at 370, the second being slightly higher than the third. These three positions correspond with the forward, neu-- tral and reverse positions of the reverse lever, as will be explained presently.

The flexible shafts are wound with helical wire, as shown, which enables them to act as racks in engagement with the toothed sheaves 2E, 23, 36 K and 38. In order to hold the shaft in mesh with its sheave it is guided tangentially of the sheave and held there by means of its guide tube 53, cut away at 54 to permit entry of the sheave, as shown in Figure '7. The tube 53 extends beyond the point of tangency in a direction toward the end of the shaft, in order to accommodate the shaft in all positions of adjustment.

The apparatus, just described, operates as follows: When the engineer wants to start the locomotive moving in a forward direction, he swings the reverse lever from neutral position, as shown in Figure 6, to forward position. This rotates sheave 24, moves shaft 26 outward and downwardinto the cam box where it rotates sheave 38 and cam shaft 34 and swings cam 31 counterclockwise (as shown in Figure 6), whereupon roller 52 moves down to the minimum lift position of cam 31. Then the engineer moves the throttle lever forward, notch-by-notch. As the throttle lever is moved, the sheave 21' is rotated and shaft 22 thrust downward in the cam box, rotating cam shaft 33 clockwise (as shown in Figure 3) and moving cam 35 into engagement with roller 43 on block 43. As cam 35 continues to rotate, block 43 is raised and with it pin 46, which causes the rocker arm 44 to swing about its fulcrum 45, lowering block 4|, which pulls with it shaft 49 and the recording pencil in the instrument housing. As the records are made upside down, th result is a series of steps ascending upward from the median line of the tape to the top, as shown at the left-hand end of the tape of Figure 8. When the throttle lever is at rest the record will level off as a straight horizontal line. Meanwhile the speed will have increased as shown by the speed curve just under the throttle line.

In stopping or reducing speed, the operation of the throttle lever is reversed until the train comes to a halt, whereupon the engineer shifts his reverse lever to neutral. This pulls the shaft 26 upward and, through the cam box mechanism previously described, swings cam 31 clockwise to the position shown in Figure 6, thus slightly raising block 42 and fulcrum 45, with the roller 52 riding upon the central position 31b of the cam. This moves the recording pencil to the middle of th tape in the instrument housing.

To reverse, the engineer swings the reverse lever back to reverse. This completes the rotation of cam shaft 34 and moves the maximum lift 31a of the cam to a position directly under the roller 52, and as there is a pronounced rise from 311) to 310, the block 42 and consequently fulcrum 45, block 43 and the recording pencil are moved a distance approximately half the width of the tape to their uppermost positions. Manipulation of the throttle lever now provides a steplike record as before, but starting from the bottom edge of the tap and ascending toward the median line. In short, the position on the tape of the throttle lever record tells at a glance whether the locomotive was going forward or reversing when the record was made.

In the light of the foregoing explanation we can now analyze the record shown on the tape of Figure 8, beginning at the left-hand end. As the throttle lever record is in the upper half of the tape, the locomotive was proceeding in the forward direction when the record was made. The engineer, starting from rest, and with his reverse lever at neutral and his throttle lever at off, shifted the reverse lever to forward and notched his throttle lever ahead through eight speeds. An appreciable time interval intervened between successive shifts to enable the speed to accelerate, the horizontal lines indicating the length of the periods between shifts. Meanwhile, the speed curve shows the acceleration of the speed. When the throttle lever reached the last notch, the engineer left it there and the record leveled off, as shown. The speed also leveled off, as shown by the speed curve. We now note that the throttle lever curve starts to move down indicating that the engineer, although still moving forward, was swinging the lever back toward off and slowing down. After swinging back through two notches he permitted the locomotive to run at a reduced speed for an appreciable length of time, a indicated by the long horizontal line. He then stepped down to off in six short steps, and when the locomotive came to rest, as indicated by the speed curve, swung the reverse lever through neutral to reverse. This is indicated by the sharp vertical drop in the throttle lever curve. The engineer then started to manipulate his throttle lever again, but this time the record was on the lower half of the tape, which indicates that he was backing up. Having backed up for a short distance and coming to a stop, he then shifted his reverse lever to forward, indicated by the sharp rise in the throttle lever curve, and notched forward one notch. Once more coming to rest, he shifted his reverse lever to reverse and backed a short distance. Then he swung his reverse lever to forward and proceeded to move ahead.

A record such as the one just described gives a complete and accurate picture of the engineers manipulation of the throttle and reverse levers and the speeds at which they were manipulated. If he has failed to abide by the rules and regulations governing the operation of his locomotive, that fact will be plainly shown on the tape. All this is accomplished by the use of a single pencil in addition to the speed pencil.

It is, of course, possible to provide the speedometer dial with a second hand connected with the flexible shaft 49 so that a visual indication of the throttle lever operation can be had, the

position of the reverse lever being indicated by the quadrant" of the dial over which the hand is moving. This is less important than the making 7 of a record, but would afford opportunity for an inspector in the cab to follow the engineers operations without watching the control stand. However, present I. C. C. regulations do not permit two indications of the same operation to be visible to the operator or engineer, and as in most installations the control stand has numbered dials or some similar arrangement indicating the position of the control levers, it would be necessary to blank these oil if the suggested indicating hand were provided.

I claim:

1. In apparatus for recording on a moving tape by means of a pencil the operation of an electrically driven vehicle controlled by a throttle and a reverse lever, the combination of a rocker arm pivoted between its ends, a connection between one end of the arm and the pencil to cause the pencil to move in unison with said end of the arm, means actuated by the reverse lever for shifting the pivot of the rocker arm in the plane of rocking movement of the arm, and a connec-- tion between the other end of the arm and the throttle to cause said end of the arm to move to different positions, as the throttle is moved to different settings.

2. In apparatus for recording on a moving tape by means of a pencil the operation of an electrically driven vehicle controlled by a throttle and a reverse lever, the combination of a rocker arm pivoted between its ends, a connection between one end of the arm and the pencil to cause the pencil to move in unison with said end of the arm, means actuated by the reverse lever for shifting the pivot of the rocker arm in the plane of rocklng movement of the arm, a connection between the other end of the arm and the throttle to cause said end of the arm to move to different positions, as the throttle is moved to different settings, and guide means for guiding the ends of the arm and the pivot thereof along parallel paths.

3. In apparatus for recording on a moving tape by means of a pencil the operation of an electrically driven vehicle controlled by a throttle and a reverse lever, the combination of a block mounted for reciprocating movement, means connecting the block and reverse lever and causing the block to move in unison with the lever, a rocker arm pivoted between its ends on the block, means connecting one end of the arm and pencil and causing the pencil to move in unison with said end of the arm, and means connecting the other end of the arm and the throttle and causing rocking of the arm as the throttle is moved.

4. In apparatus for recording on a moving tape by means of a pencil the operation of an electrically driven vehicle controlled by a throttle and a reverse lever, the combination of a block mounted for reciprocating movement, a cam engaging the block and rotatable to move the block, means connecting the cam and reverse lever and causing rotation of the cam as the reverse lever is moved, a rocker arm pivoted between its ends on the block, means connecting one end of the arm and pencil and causing the pencil to move in unison with said end of the arm, and means including a cam for connecting the other end of the arm and the throttle and causing rocking of the arm as the throttle is moved.

5. In apparatus for recording on a moving tape by means of a pencil the operation of an electrically driven vehiclecontrolled by a throttle and a reverse lever, the combination of three blocks mounted for parallel reciprocating movement, a rocker arm pivoted between its ends on the middle block and having its ends connected to respective outer blocks, means connecting the middle block to the reverse lever and causing that block to move in unison with the lever, a connection between one outer block and the pencil and causing the block and pencil to move in unison, and means connecting the other outer block and the throttle and causing that block to move in unison with the throttle.

6. In apparatus for recording on a moving tape by means of a pencil the operation of an electrically driven vehicle controlled by a throttle and a reverse lever, the combination of three blocks mounted for parallel reciprocating movement, a rocker arm pivoted between its ends on the middle block and having its ends connected to respective outer blocks, a connection between one outer block and the pencil to cause the block and pencil to move in unison, cams engaging the middle block and the outer block, respectively, and rotatable to move said blocks, a connection between the reverse lever and the middle block cam to cause the lever to rotate said cam, as the lever is moved, and a connection between the throttle and the outer block cam to cause the throttle to rotate said cam, as the throttle is moved.

ROBERT S. CLARK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 885,529 Rush Apr. 21, 1908 1,098,521 Nelson June 2, 1914 1,317,672 Ahern Oct. 7, 1919 1,787,066 Carter et a1 Dec. 30, 1930 2,080,065 Ross et a1 May 11, 1937 

